Arthurian Traditions (01/24)

[godinakilt.livejournal.com]

"Feasgar math, a chlas. Good afternoon, class. My . . . apologies for the absence of class on Thursday. We will continue with our study of traditional sources of Arthurian legend.

"There are two major medieval texts we will be looking at." He begins handing out texts. "And we will be confining our scope to English sources, although I may bring in the French and German romances about the exploits of the knights. There are several recurring themes and motifs that we will be focusing on in class. We've already seen one in 'Culhwch and Olwen', that of the cauldron which becomes the Holy Grail. The Holy Grail continued to evolve in meaning and significance throughout history. A second is the role and position of women, and how that effects the behaviour of men, the development of chivalry, and politics. We'll be paying close attention to the social structure of the City of Legions, one of Arthur's Camelots. The role and identity of Excalibur, the Lady of the Lake, and so on and so forth.

"I'll assign all of your readings todays. We'll go over them in class, and I'll expect you to draw examples from both during class discussions. I'd like you to read from Geoffrey of Monmouth's 'A History of the Kings of Britain', but only Book IX and chapters I and II of Book XI, and Sir Thomas Malory's La Morte d'Arthur, Book XXI."

He looked around the class. "Questions? Topics you'd like to cover?"

Comments

[allie-cameron.livejournal.com]

Allie writes down the information on the readings and listens to the lecture.

[cerulean--eyes.livejournal.com]

Boone takes down notes and flips through the reading, occasionally glancing over to notice the way the light hits off Allie's hair. With a slight blush, he looked back down to his notes.

[allie-cameron.livejournal.com]

Allie would blush if she knew Boone was looking at her.

[ooc: gah, i need to start checking allie's notifications more often. sorry!]

[cerulean--eyes.livejournal.com]

[OOC: gah, no worries!]

[psi16.livejournal.com]

Lyta flips through the readings, trying to jog her memory on the content. She pauses at the point in La Morte d'Arthur where Arthur draws his sword to kill a snake -- inadvertently signalling his armies to attack. A frown creases her features. Wasn't this how the Minbari War started? The Minbari approached, their gunports open -- as was their custom -- and the Earth Force battleship mistook it as a sign of aggression; they fired and killed key members of the Minbari crew. It began a war that would cost so many lives -- and stopped just shy of the Minbari taking Earth. Lyta knew now why they stopped, and that, indeed, they had stopped, not been overpowered.

"What might have happened," she finally asked, "if the snake hadn't been in the bushes?"

[godinakilt.livejournal.com]

"There would have been peace," Camulus replied simply, raising an eyebrow at her speed-flipping. "Or perhaps they simply would have found another way to start the conflict. Perhaps Arthur would have died an old man, and the legend would have died with him. What do you think?"

[psi16.livejournal.com]

"I've known men like Mordred," she said, her mind automatically drifting toward tales of the Shadow agent, Mr. Morden. Any coincidence that both names seem to be derivatives of "death"? "There might have been a temporary peace, but as long as they crave power, there could have been no lasting peace." She gave a rueful smile. "If it hadn't been Arthur, it would have been someone else."

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe is idly reading through her own copies of the books as she listens to Camulus lecturing. She keeps looking down at her leg, and smiling wide.

[godinakilt.livejournal.com]

If Camulus wasn't lecturing, he'd be smiling fondly at her. But he's lecturing, so he's not.

[sensethevisions]

Phoebe is bouncing lightly as she grades papers, trying to think about something nice she can do for Camulus in return for him healing her.

[kawalsky.livejournal.com]

Kawalsky took notes, listened and resisted the urge to set the room on fire. Maybe he'd been hanging out with Callisto too long. He did, however, keep his mouth shut and look surly.

[forlornslayer.livejournal.com]

Buffy is paying attention to the lecture, but also notes Phoebe...wasn't she in a wheelchair on Monday?

[sea-incarnadine.livejournal.com]

Macbeth made a point of paying close attention to the lecture today. After his stupid behavior in Celtic Studies yesterday, he can't afford to idiotically drift off into daydreams of grandeur.

[apocalypsesoon.livejournal.com]

John signs in and takes notes. He starts in on the readings, just to stay current.